National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that FAA require operators to disassemble and inspect more than 10,000 jet engines used on nearly one-third of the U.S. commercial fleet, a requirement a longtime industry consultant estimated could approach $5 billion in cost. The board's recommendation followed discovery of broken tie rods on a Pratt&Whitney JT8D-17A engine on a 727-200 operated by a Canadian carrier, Royal Airlines.
Kitty Hawk reported record earnings for the fourth quarter and the year ended Dec. 31. Quarterly net income jumped 125% to $11.5 million from $5.1 million, and revenues were up 13% to $236.7 million. For the year, net income rose to $16.6 million from a net loss of $960,000, while revenues increased 13% to $714.9 million from $631.3 million.
All Nippon Airways has created a family of jets with liveries derived from the popular Pokemon children's game and cartoon series by Nintendo. Two 767s and one 747-400 feature characters from the series.
DOT yesterday tentatively selected Delta for a U.S.-Italy designation available April 1, stating that "only Delta's proposal would open a new gateway to Italy and provide expanded gateway services between the American South and Rome" and noting that Atlanta is the largest U.S. market without nonstop service to Italy. US Airways' Philadelphia-Milan service proposal was granted tentative backup authority. The U.S. and Italy initialed an open-skies agreement in November (DAILY, Nov.
Continental, awarded a U.S.-Romania third-country code-share opportunity that becomes available Nov. 1 in a DOT order selecting Delta, Northwest and United for three such opportunities available April 1 (DAILY, Feb. 11) is not satisfied with that consolation prize. Continental filed an objection, asking DOT to designate it for one of the April 1 opportunities.
Air Canada is offering a fare sale of up to 40% off to more than 160 destinations through March 1. Travel must be completed by June 14. Sample roundtrip fares are Los Angeles-Toronto $266, Miami-Vancouver $369 and Nashville-Calgary $333.
American's Allied Pilots Association said yesterday it will not agree to a company request that both sides submit to arbitration in the dispute over Reno because arbitration implies the bargaining process has ended and the pilots still believe they can resolve issues at the table. American also suggested calling in a mediator, which APA spokesman Drew Engleke said the union has not ruled out. "The issue of scope and who is supposed to be doing flying for AMR is resolved," he said.
Fuel Cost and Consumption U.S. Majors, Nationals and Large Regionals December 1997 to November 1998 Total Total Cost Cents Per Gallons (Dollars) Gallon 1998 January Domestic 1,126,915,906 640,594,720 56.845 International 405,264,970 254,747,776 62.860
Continental will launch daily nonstops between Newark and Amsterdam July 15, using a DC-10 configured for 38 BusinessFirst and 204 coach seats. The service, Continental's 17th across the Atlantic, is subject to Dutch government approval.
SkyMall has formed an alliance with Northwest to bring its inflight catalog to the carrier's domestic passengers and develop joint marketing programs to attract airline customers to online SkyMall shopping. The three-and-a-half-year agreement provides that Northwest make the SkyMall catalog available on domestic flights, beginning June 1, and by the fourth quarter add a link to skymall.com to the carrier's web site.
American will scale back its summer service to Europe unless overall capacity is drawn down, Chairman Donald Carty said at a recent conference.The "Asian flu" has caused some carriers to shift capacity to transatlantic routes at the same time others expand aggressively. Carty said American might step up the retirement of its remaining 18 DC-10s, pulling them out of service by the end of next year instead of 2002 as originally planned.
UPS said fourth quarter revenues increased by 8.6% to $6.7 billion while net income rose to $482 million from $351 million. Revenues for the year, which included the company's first annual profit from international operations, were up 10.4% to $24.8 billion, and net income grew to $1.7 billion from $909 million. The previous year's results were negatively affected by a 15-day strike by UPS's pilots union.
American will begin code sharing next month on flights within Australia and between Australia and New Zealand operated by oneworld alliance partner Qantas. American's passengers will begin or end their trips in the U.S. and connect with the new code-share service at Sydney or Auckland. American will place its code on certain Qantas flights between Auckland and Sydney and Brisbane, beginning March 1, and certain flights between Sydney and Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne and Perth, starting March 28.
Hawaiian Airlines yesterday posted the best annual operating earnings in its history, aided partially by lower fuel costs and Hawaii's moratorium on landing fees. The airline recorded an operating profit of $17.4 million in 1998, up sharply from $2.5 million in 1997. The net profit of $8.2 million last year compared with a net loss of $1 million in 1997. For the fourth quarter, Hawaiian eked out a $231,000 profit versus a net loss of $1.3 million in the December quarter of 1997.
DOT approved a joint application by Delta and China Southern for code-share service between Guangzhou, China, and 17 U.S. points, via Los Angeles. China Southern was granted an initial one-year exemption - it had requested the authority for two years - to provide scheduled foreign combination service between Guangzhou and Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Fairbanks, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
Carol Carmody, U.S. representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization for five years, said yesterday she is leaving her post at the end of the week to work as a consultant for the Air Transport Association.
Cathay Pacific will add personal televisions with 10 channels on March 1 to economy classes of nighttime flights from Los Angeles and New York to Hong Kong. The personal TVs, located in the seatbacks of the 747s, will include dedicated programming for Asian passengers. Three-times-weekly daytime flights will feature the upgraded economy class by yearend. The new daily San Francisco-Hong Kong nonstop is flown with Airbus A340-300s, which have personal TVs in all classes.
House Commerce Committee Ranking Democrat John Dingell (Mich.) entered the increasingly crowded field of aviation legislation yesterday by introducing a bill that embraces passenger rights and competition enhancement, including airport slot auctions.
Olympic Airways merchant bankers Salomon Smith Barney and National Bank of Investment and Industrial Development are reviewing the bids of companies wishing to take over management of the troubled Greek airline. Contrary to what was announced earlier, the Greek government shied away from releasing the list of candidates. Greek government sources said they were surprised by the number of candidates, which include foreign airlines and their subsidiaries. Greek press reports claim British Airways' Speedwing is leading the race, ahead of Lufthansa and American.
SunJet, the New York-based low-fare carrier to Florida, will expand its schedule March 4 with nonstop service from Newark to West Palm Beach and Orlando at one-way fares starting at $79. The new service brings SunJet's number of daily New York-Florida flights to seven. Flights from Newark to West Palm Beach and Orlando will operate daily except Tuesdays. On March 4, SunJet also will reinstate service from New York Kennedy and Islip to Fort Lauderdale.
Mercury Air Group said it has restructured the operations of subsidiary Mercury Air Cargo with a letter of intent to sell cargo-handling operations at Miami Airport. The Miami operations "never attained sufficient revenues" to make a profit, and the termination is expected within 60 days, it said. Mercury Air has cargo operations in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Montreal and Toronto.
Joe Tymczyszyn, career FAA pilot who flight-tested the Cessna 504 and the first Boeing 707 and DC-8, ushering in the jet age, died Feb. 19 at his home near Lancaster, Calif.
FAA said it plans to fine Airborne Express and three companies with which it contracts to handle hazardous materials a total of $210,000. FAA alleged the companies failed to provide "appropriate training to employees who handle and load hazardous materials for transportation by air." The three companies are Hilson&Fergusson, Fernandina Beach, Fla.; Canuck Industries, Bellingham, Wash., and Motor Air Dispatch, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Czech Airlines (CSA) withdrew its request for an exemption from slot restrictions at Chicago O'Hare for twice-weekly Chicago-Prague nonstops. The carrier told DOT that "contrary to prior assurances, it has proven impossible for CSA, in a timely fashion, to locate an aircraft configured and equipped comparably to the two aircraft" it uses for transatlantic operations. It planned to use an A310-300 on the route (DAILY, Jan. 19).
Star Alliance member airlines are launching an information technology organization with as many as 20 IT employees. The group will work in one location, to be determined, and manage systems development for all member carriers. Staff assignments will last two years initially.
